Pay $5,000 for survival before world ends in 2012

Melbourne: A 2012 doomsday group is charging USD 5,000 for a spot in the end-of-the-world bunker in the northern New South Wales hills.

According to the group which describes itself as a “survival community”, massive earthquakes, shifts in the Earth’s poles and devastating solar flares will be among events faced by the global community this year, News.com.au reported.

Group organiser NSW refrigeration mechanic Simon Young said the entry fee went towards concrete and other materials to construct the bunker, believed to be in mountains near Tenterfield.

The group points to Egyptian texts, Bible passages and a frozen mammoth as evidence the world will undergo massive physical change around December 21.

Scientists worldwide have refuted 2012 doomsday claims, saying nothing will happen to the Earth this year.

When asked about the bunker project, set to be 1.2 km above sea level to avoid predicted catastrophic sea events, Young said he believed it was the best chance of survival.

“It’s to get ready for 2012,” he said. “We’re trying to get a few more people involved.”

The bunker is expected to be completed just before December when the group anticipates sun activity and tectonic shifts to wipe out most life on Earth.

The group’s website, which features poems from 16th Century prophetess Mother Shipton, has had more than 28,500 hits as 2012 paranoia mounts.

“It is known that the sun’s activity has increased significantly over the past century,” the site states.

“It is believed that there is a correlation between the sun’s cycle and magnetic fluctuations, and pole shifts.”

The site lists the discovery of a frozen mammoth among a body of “evidence” towards the presence of an undiscovered planet in the universe that the group believes could alter the Earth’s poles.

NASA scientists in the US have taken to the web to dispel myths about doomsday as December approaches.

“Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than four billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012,” their website states.